THE MAN WHO KNEW CARY GRANT

by Jonathan Schwartz ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 28, 1988

From author/disc-jockey Schwartz (Distant Stations, Almost Home), a book of linked short stories, sometimes affecting, often affected, centering on the relationship between a famous father and his son. Schwartz's own father was the well-known musical-comedy composer Arthur Schwartz, and unfortunately, there's an air here of memory being doted on rather than shaped into fiction. The principal characters are composer-lyricist Norman Savitt and his son, Jesse, with the action ranging from the 40's to the present. In the title story, which takes place in 1969, Norman Savitt is indeed the man who knew Cary Grant--and George S. Kaufman and Ira Gershwin and Rodgers and Hammerstein. On a visit with out-of-work Jesse (Jesse is a journalist of sorts) and his pretty young girlfriend, Ira reminisces about them all--with a nice anecdotal air, but to little effect. Of the three stories dealing with Jesse's adolescence, ""Chloe Hummel of the Chicago White Sox"" (about the boy's first love) is perhaps the least sentimental. ""Over The Purple Hills"" (Dad visits lonely Jesse in boarding school) is Schwartz at his teary worst. In other, forgettable stories, one learns mainly about Jesse's angst-ridden life in New York City--his confused (and confusing) relationships with women, his drinking, his breakdown. The most moving story, ""Waiting Weeping,"" deals with Norman's final stroke in 1983. In all, a somewhat ungainly combination of ersatz Bellow and Avery Corman.

Pub Date: Sept. 28, 1988

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1988

Categories: FICTION